Kerry stresses on importance of promoting Afghan-led reconciliation process

United States foreign minister, John Kerry in a meeting with Adviser to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz agreed on the importance of promoting the Afghan-led reconciliation process.

On the sidelines the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Ministerial Meeting being held in Laos, Kerry and Aziz exchanged views on the regional situation with special reference to Afghanistan.

In the meantime, the White House says that US national security team is monitoring Afghanistan closely.

“The President’s national security team closely monitors Afghanistan, obviously, and is in constant touch with our military advisors on the ground to making sure that they’re getting the support and resources they need to carry out their mission,”  US Press Secretary, Eric Schultz said.

This comes as the United Nation report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan that reached a record high in the first half of 2016 considered a great tragedy by the White House.

The UN report, which comes two days after the deadliest attack in Kabul since 2001, cited ground combat between militants and NATO-backed Afghan forces as the leading cause of casualties.

Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 wounded – a 4% increase in casualties compared with the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) said.